A man attacked his partner and left her with a broken collar bone while telling her how she was to blame, a court heard.

Stephen Cook, aged 42, has gone on trial accused of assaulting the woman in her flat the morning after a row – leaving her so bruised she said she looked like “the Elephant Man”.

He banged her head against the walls before knocking her to the floor and breaking her collar bone, Plymouth Crown Court heard.

Jason Beal, opening the case for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “He grabbed her by her hair and pulled her by her hair, he punched her and kicked her and knocked her to the ground, leaving her battered and bruised and with a broken collar bone.

“As he did so, he blamed her for what was happening. His behaviour was strange and unpredictable. He told her how much he loved her as he assaulted her.”

Stephen Cook is on trial before a judge and jury for assault causing actual bodily harm (Image: Plymouth Live)

Mr Beal said Cook had been dating Miss Harte for about five months and spent time at her first-floor flat in Lipstone Crescent in Lipson.

He added that the couple argued at her home on the night of March 19 that year and Miss Harte left by herself for a night out.

Mr Beal said she returned the next morning, only to find the door chained from the inside. The court heard that she climbed on a bin and then on to a balcony to get inside the flat, where she found Cook on the bed smoking a cigarette.